Bob Aspromonte had a 13 year career in MLB. Born in Brooklyn, his career in baseball started with a one game appearance for his hometown Dodgers in 1956. It took another 3 years before he played his next game in the bigs, after the Dodgers bolted for the west coast. Bob played all the positions on the left side of the park - third, shortstop and left field., as well as games on the right side of the diamond at second and first. A solid every day player, he finished his career as a lifetime .252 batter.
Bob was drafted to the Colt 45s in the expansion draft of 1961, spending 7 years in Houston before being dealt to the Braves. After 2 years in Atlanta, Aspromonte was sent to the Mets for his final year, being released after the 1971 season.
Claim to fame: Bob was the favorite ball player for a child, Bill Bradley, that was blinded in a freak lightning accident. The child visited Aspromonte in Houston and asked Bob to hit him a home run, Aspromonte was not known as a long ball hitter, but agreed to the request. At the game that night, Bob hit a home. The following year, still blind Bill visited Aspronte in Houston and after the meeting, again asked Bob to hit him a home run. Aspromonte went deep again, this time with a grand slam.
In 1963, after surgeries that gave Bill back some sight, he meet with Bob a third time, and just as before, requested a home run from the ball player. At the time, Aspromonte was in a hitting slump and asked if a couple of base hits would do. "You're really pushing your luck," Bob replied. However, coming to the plate in the bottom of the first, Bob swung a Tracy Stallard offering and hit another grand slam.
Comic answer: Candlestick Park 42,500
Card condition: Poorly centered. Light rounding of the corners and a few creases in the center of the card. The back is also off center with minor dirt. Comic answer is visible from age/dirt and not from someone rubbing with a coin.
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